8.2 System Users

The parts of Beacon described below are generally only available to the Site Administrator.

This video gives background and context to the topic.

Viewing System Users
System Users are those members who are required to perform some administration on the system, e.g. Committee, Group Leaders, etc. Access is given according to the needs/requirements of their Roles.

Click System users on the Home Page to view the list of users. All users must be current u3a members.

Sending Emails to System Users
To send an email to System Users click Select at the top of the first column to select all the System Users, or tick individual users one-by-one, before pressing the Send E-mail button.

When composing the email three additional #Tokens are available.

#OFFICES	If the System user is in the u3a Officers list then the Office position (e.g. Chair, Webmaster)
#USERNAME	The Login User name in the System users list
#ROLES	A list of the role(s) the System user is given (e.g. Treasurer, Group Convenor)

Viewing User Records
Click on a blue Full Name to view the System User Record.

Pressing the button with three dots next to the Member name [A] will take you to their individual Member Record (see 4.2).

The lower part of the form shows the Roles that the user has been assigned (see 8.2). After changing the Roles assigned to a user, press the Save Role Assignment button [C].

Adding New Users
Click Add New User from the System User list or an existing System User Record. Select the name of the member from the drop-down list and enter a Login name (username) in the field below.

Usernames can only have lower case letters or numbers with no blank spaces and should be personal to the user (e.g. jbloggs), rather than relating to a role such as Membership Secretary.

Please do not have duplicate Usernames.

After pressing the  Save User button, a message showing the User’s temporary password and prompting you to establish the user’s roles will be displayed. Make a note of the Username and Password (for when you inform the user) and then click OK to dismiss the message. A popular way to do this is to select and copy the password and paste it into an e-mail.

Assigning Roles to a User
Every user, except the Site Administrator, must be assigned to one or more Roles in order to access Beacon. Select the Roles required at the bottom of the User Record and press the Save Role Assignment button [C].

See 8.2 for details of how to create and edit Roles and Privileges.

Please note if you give a Group Leader privileges to someone then they will have access to all groups of which they are a leader. You do not need to set separate User rights for each group.

It is also beneficial for each user to have a single User name and password with all roles ticked on a single Users record. This means there are less Users to maintain and reduces the number of passwords, user names an individual has to remember. If they cease being in a role you can just untick this role from their User record.

Re-setting a User's Password
It is not possible to ascertain a user's password, so if a user forgets theirs the only options are for the user to click the Forgotten your username or password link on the Beacon log-in page, or for the Site Administrator to re-set the password.

To re-set a user's password click System users on the Home Page, open their User Record and press the Set Temporary Password button. You will need to notify the user of their new password and they will have to change their password on first use.

Deleting a System User

You should ensure that where access to Beacon is no longer required, System Users are deleted by pressing Delete User [B].

Please note this will only remove their ability to log into Beacon it will still leave the individual's Member Record.

Also, if a member is changed to a non-current status such as Lapsed or Deceased, they will be automatically be removed from the System Users List

Revision History

v1	2020-04-04	Graeme Bunting	Original version
v2	2021-12-14	David Powers	Video added
v3	2022-08-18	Graham Tigg	Updated new user password screen shot
v4	2022-11-14	John Alexander	Add information on deleting user
v5	2023-09-08	Graeme Bunting	Sending emails to System Users added.  Note about Lapsed & Deceased members added.
v6	2024-03-14	John Alexander	Add about multiple roles and simplifying User records
v7	2024-07-11	Graham Tigg	Added tokens for System users emailing